1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an easily attachable or detachable portable entertainment unit which is enclosed in an encasement, and which attaches easily to all kinds of strollers as well as to an assortment of other vehicles such as bicycles, golf-carts, wheelchairs, handcarts, skidoos, or any surface deemed suitable for said attachment, via adjustable mounting means built into said encased unit, meant to cooperate with attachments fastened onto vehicles or other places of attachment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Strollers of all kinds transport children. Handcarts are used to transport groceries. Wheel-chairs are an important means of transportation for many individuals. Bicycles are used for a wide variety of purposes. Skidoos, and golf-carts are modes of transportation as well. All these methods of transporting people and goods serve their purposes well. There is added enjoyment, while utilizing these transportation methods, when one can take along a form of entertainment. Sometimes, access to a radio can prove to be a necessity as well; For example, when one needs a weather forecast.
Carrying a portable radio in one's purse, or dragging a portable television along to the park for entertainment, can be cumbersome, or a hassle. They don't easily fit into your pocket, and when it rains, one is caught with the potential of damaging the equipment. To a mother, it is far more important to remember the necessities, than the luxuries, when filling an already over-stuffed diaper bag.
It isn't very practical for one to ride a bike, or walk a baby, while wearing headphones, the usual mode for listening to portable radios outdoors. It is unsafe. One can't hear the traffic, a necessity to safety while riding a bicycle, and one can't hear a baby, a significant consideration. Then, there is the added hindrance of finding a place on your bike to somehow hook your unequipped-to-be-mounted radio onto. A person riding a bike needs both his hands on his handlebars, not fumbling around rearranging the radio which is about to fall out of his shirt pocket.
However, there is now a way to improve the time spent while employing any one of these modes of transportation. In this invention, we have a portable and attachable, light-weight, encased entertainment unit, which can attach to any one of these modes of transportation. Attachments are secured onto the vehicle's handles, and the encased unit attaches to the handles via these attachments which cooperate with attachments built into said encasement. Aside from the obvious and practical uses of portable entertainment such as enjoyment, leisure, keeping in touch with the news, these units are designed to be easily employed, convenient, safe, and completely protected from any outdoor elements by their unique protective, encasements.
A baby can be lulled to sleep outdoors with music. A mother can watch a soap-opera in a park while her child sleeps and breathes fresh air. Someone at a ball park can watch replays in their hand, even when it's raining. A person on a long bike ride can pause for a television show. Someone on a long hike, can bring along their favourite cassette, or video cassette, to watch or listen to, perhaps where t.v. signals and radio signals are out of reach. Children can watch a movie in a park. There is no limit to the ways these entertainment units can be utilized. The encased units can be adjusted for use on a boat, providing entertainment as well as weather updates. In miniaturized versions, an encased entertainment unit containing a radio, can perhaps be attached to a ski pole, making the ride up the chair lift, or tow-line pass quickly as well as more enjoyably. These are only a few of the ways these encased entertainment units can be employed.
Numerous types of carriers are available for carrying objects or attaching things to vehicles or railings.
I have studied the patents that were cited as being similar in nature to my own invention, and I have concluded the following, based on a comparison:
CARMODY, U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,924: discloses a support fixture for mounting on railings and the like. This would not be suitable for mounting my encased entertainment units. His fixture would not adapt to handlebars of bicycles or wheelchairs, or any of the vehicles I have mentioned above. As well, although his fixture might support a radio while attached to a railing, the moment there was some movement, the radio would come crashing down to the ground. My methods of encasement attachment are not similar to his. The only thing that our inventions have in common is that they are mountable, supportive fixtures.
BRINKERHOFF, U.S. Pat. No. 371,665: discloses a picture hook hanger. The nature of his invention is far too delicate for the nature of my intended unit. No entertainment unit, no matter how lightweight and miniaturized, would be secured properly by his picture hooks. Aside from the obvious weight restrictions, any motion of a stroller, any bumpy ride, or slight push of a baby's hand, would dislocate the unit. Aside from these facts, my attachment modes are quite distinct from his, probably because they are intended to support something of a different nature than his are. The inventions might both support, but other than this common purpose, they are significantly different.
NIDERMAYER, U.S. Pat. No. 2,558,372: discloses a luggage or package carrier for baby carriages. Aside from the fact that his invention is limited to what it can be mounted on, there is a limit to when it can be used practically. There is absolutely no protection for the entertainment unit placed inside his carrier, which deems it totally impractical for certain weathers and seasons. The unit is bulky, and would be awkward if attached to certain modes of transportation, for example, on a bicycle. It would get in the way of the proper usage of certain vehicles I have referred to as acceptable for attachment of my entertainment unit. And aside from the similarity of having a radio mounted somewhere near the stroller, the design of his invention is quite remote from my own.
Furthermore, there is no mode for securing a radio or any other device solidly, within his carrier. His carrier is intended to carry items, but does not protect the items from certain movements. His carriers are limited to calm-paced transportation modes. On a skidoo, if his carrier was holding a radio, the radio would most definitely be dislodged during any movement. And even if his carrier was somehow attached to a bicycle, for example, anything inside the carrier would jump out when the bicycle hit some rough terrain. And if a person wanted to fold their stroller holding his carrier, they would definitely have to unscrew all the attachments in order to do so. Whereas if one wanted to fold a stroller holding one of my units, they would simply remove the unit from its attachment mode, said mode remaining on the handlebars as the stroller was folded.
MOSER, U.S. Pat. No. 373,472: discloses an adjustable lantern holder. His invention is not suitable for attachment to handlebars or any other modes of transportation I have cited in my application or Continuation in Part. My entertainment units would fall off a bicycle if they were attached by his mode of attachment. There would be no protection from the elements for them as well. His design is too long and bulky to be practical in any of the intended uses I have set forth, for my entertainment units.
TRINGALI, U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,671: discloses a holder for a radio on vehicle handlebars. However, his holder is not practical for all sorts of weather and seasons. There is no protection for the entertainment unit. As well, his attachments are not simply detachable, rendering the radio not easily removable. His holder is limited in what it will secure.
SUKUP, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,732: discloses an intravenous feeder support for a stroller. The support is limited to the kind of stroller it can be attached to. The box would not hold my entertainment unit sufficiently securely. The unit would jump right up and out of the support box he invented, pending a bumpy ride on a bicycle or a skidoo. Most of the vehicles I have mentioned wouldn't even have room for attachment of his device. It is not a practical one for all my intents and purposes. There are far more brackets than necessary for use as one of my entertainment unit's encasement's mode of attachment. There is also no adequate protection from the elements for an un-encased entertainment unit placed in one of his boxes. There isn't even a lid. As well, the boxes do not attach and detach easily enough to be considered efficient for my purposes. The only thing portable about his boxes are the items one might place in his box (i.e. the intravenous feeder it is intended to carry).
The box would have to remain a fixture unless one wanted to be consistently burdened with the task of removing screws and rearranging them. The box is impractical for use with fold up strollers, as it would get in the way of the folding up procedure, and prove to be more of a hindrance than a help. Except for the fact that the box is attached to a stroller, the idea of his invention is different in nature and design than mine. His invention is intended for different usage than is mine, and therewith the distinctions are eminent. The methods of attachment he describes are different from my encased entertainment unit's method as well. His attachments are more structured, and far more complicated than need be for securement of my entertainment units. Also, they are far less flexible in nature. My attachments are easier to use, less confining, not limiting in any permanent nature, more useful, and far more practical for my encased entertainment unit's purposes and design. Furthermore, his attachments, which secure the support box to the handlebars of the stroller, are not in any way attached to the contents of the box (the intravenous feeder). Thereby, there is a limit to the attachments' use in supporting the contents of the box. My encasement boxes snugly enclose the entertainment units, and these units are then secured by their attachments directly. This helps secure them onto the vehicle more supportively. The encasement boxes, built around the entertainment units, hold them completely. And the encasement boxes are secured onto the place of attachment via their own built-in attachment mode.
MAFFEI, U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,158: discloses an over-bed television support frame, which holds a television above a bed in a completely different manner than my invention. All my entertainment units mount onto bicycles as well as other vehicles. Televisions are not easily portable or removable when mounted via his invention. And his mode is not adaptable to a bicycle or other moving vehicles, as it's far too bulky. His method is not practical or adjustable for my invention's purpose. And except for the fact that his attachments suspend a television set, as my encasement's attachments do, the nature and design of his support frame, for all my intents and purposes, is quite different from my own.
DAVIES, U.S. Pat. No. 2,302,300 discloses a carrier for the outside of a vehicle. His invention is unlike mine, except that it is mounted, and that it holds something. There is no protection for any entertainment unit mounted via his carrier, and it is plainly not practical for my intents and purposes. Upon further consideration, you will see it is not in the least bit similar.